The Sachar Committee report on the backwardness of Muslims said despite being committed to the protection of minorities, governments across India had done little to improve the community's socio-economic conditions . A prime example given was West Bengal, where despite 33 years of rule by the Left Front government, their lot had not really improved.
But, consider the limited issue of literacy in Bengal. Not only can more and more people read and write in the state; their number is growing steadily. And, the biggest increase is reported from the three Muslim-majority districts of Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur, where the rate of increase in literacy rate outdoes the state average. At least on this issue, Muslims are not as badly off in West Bengal as elsewhere in India.